I am going to have a barrel made for my T/C Encore and was wondering what one to go with ?
It has to be accurate and still be able to take big game elk , mule deer .

I would recomend staying with cartridges approved by T/C for use in the Encore. I have seen, in person, short mags blow the action open on a Encore with a custom made barrel from a reputable company. I have seen it happen repeatedly on a 300wsm and if memory serves on a 270 wsm. Factory amo would blow the action open, different lot numbers, even with light grained bullets and if the action was not blown open, the primers were blown out. Same with reasonable reloads. The suspecion is the pressure on the fat case base is excessive for the lock up system on the Encore.

You should confer with T/C for their caliber recomendations and warranttee issues.

Some may have had better experiance with the short mags in an Encore but from what I have seen, proceed with caution and get professional advise, from some qualified independent expeerts. My openion based upon my experiance.

There are a few different cartridges that would be suitable for what your after. A little while back I was looking for the same kind of info. Below is the URL that list several different calibers & explainations of their use. I found it to be quite helpful. I hope it helps you as well.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/elk_cartridges.htm

Rich Jake

I have been thinking about building a .257 Weatherby Mag. in an Encore. I have a Mark V in this caliber and love it.

I was talking with a guy shooting an Encore rifle at the range where I am a member and his story about the 300 WSM ran right along with Wild Shooter's. He had ordered the barrel from a well known after market custom barrel maker. He sent the barrel back and received a replacement. Still no help and he got very poor accuracy regardless of the load or preload preparations. After discussing this with the barrel maker, it was felt that the short fat rounds did not "grip" the chamber walls well enough keep this from happening. He sent the barrel back and got a 6.5/284 to replace it and loves it. Like I said this was second hand info., so you can give it what ever consideration you want.

Dennis

[ 08-19-2003, 16:06: Message edited by: DennisF ]

Thanks for the help and it sounds like you are right about the WSM's Virgin Valley won't build them because of the actions opening up when fired.
They said they would make me a Rem SAUM in 300 or 7MM .?????

hunt4ever
I didn't want to influence your caliber choice with my earlier post. I believe that there are several calibers that would be good & safe for you to choose. I'm thinking like the 338-06, 280 Remington,35 Whelen & a few others as well. Not to mention some of the AI's of these cartridges.

I eneded up choosing a 280AI to be made for me. While it is not A 7mm Rem Mag it will be right on the heals of it. I just figured that at worst case scenario it could still be used for Deer. Good luck on your project !
Rich Jake

[ 08-19-2003, 02:33: Message edited by: Rich Jake ]

The thing you want to remember about magnums, say the .300 Magnum, is to extend your range over the .30-06. Same story of course for the '06 over the .308 or .30-30. How far away can you kill an elk with a .30-06? With the magnum you can add 75 to 100 yards maybe? Now consider how far you will be confident shooting at an elk. take into consideration wind, trajectory, and most important, how well you can hold and shoot. So what you need is a caliber that will kill at that distance. For most hunters 300 yards is the distance and an '06 is plenty of gun. For me it would be something less than that, probably a .30-30 at 100 yards.

i went through the same dilemma last year. after consultation with one of the barrel makers, i decided on a 24", light varmint taper, 6.5-284. several people have told me that it is too small for elk. if you look at the 6.5 cal, it has a high ballistic coefficient which translates to a flat shooter. furthermore, more moose have been killed with the 6.5x55 (~200-300 fps slower than the 6.5-284) than any other cartridge in the scandinavian countries.

using hornady brass, 51 grs of RL 22 and speer grand slams, my groups are as follow: 4 shot - .9", 3 shot - .65". i can hit a 1 gal milk jug at 300 yds (benched). 18" gong at 320 yds sitting.

I like my .350 Rem Mag. 20" barrel and it will put 4 shots in a 1" target dot. My barrel came from Fox Ridge but you would probably get a better one from OTT, VV, EABCo, etc. Sean